330 THE WONDERFUL CENTURY. CHAP. x ix . 



any other persons, including his nearest relations or 

 friends, are only sent " at the discretion " of the man- 

 ager. In like manner the visits of relations or friends 

 require an order from a Commissioner in Lunacy or an 

 official visitor of the asylum ; but they are not obliged to 

 give such an order, so that if the manager of any private 

 asylum states that it is inadvisable, or that it would be 

 injurious to the patient, the order will probably be re- 

 fused. It thus appears that an alleged lunatic, once in 

 an asylum, is wholly dependent on the doctors for any 

 chance of getting out again. Everything is in their 

 hands. The patient may be deprived of all communica- 

 tion with friends, either personally or by letter; and 

 though he may see or write to a Commissioner, that will 

 avail him nothing if the medical superintendent either 

 mistakenly believes him to be insane, or has personal 

 reasons for keeping him in the asylum. From begin- 

 ning to end there is no publicity, no opportunity of dis- 

 proving any statements that may be made against him, 

 no means of proving his sanity in open court, and sub- 

 ject to the usual safeguards which are accorded to the 

 poorest criminal. 



Still more dangerous to liberty is the provision, in 

 Sect. 20 of this Act, that any constable, relieving officer, 

 or overseer, may remove any alleged lunatic to the work- 

 house, if he is satisfied that this is necessary for the 

 public safety or the welfare of the alleged lunatic. It 

 seems hardly credible, but the judges, in a court of ap- 

 peal, have decided that any of the above named persons 

 may act on the private information of one person, with- 

 out seeing the alleged lunatic or giving him any oppor- 

 tunity to state or prove that he is not a lunatic! Yet 



